TOXIC

I just remembered, for sheer numbers I had a crazy day on lake Powell when I went to a pro staff get together at Yamamoto headquarters in Page, Arizona. We took 2 days to go fish the lake. The first day I fished with a Yamamoto pro from Utah and we went smallie hunting. Totally out of my element, we fished canyons, feeder creeks where the water flow wore cuts in the rock and we fished what he called “butt cracks” where we were sitting in 300 feet of water and if you looked up, it was 300 feet to the top of the canyon wall. That was a hoot but not the numbers day. Game and fisheries wants you to keep all the striper you catch and the second day I went with the husband of one of the ladies who worked for Yamamoto. We were fishing and a small v bottomed tin rig motored up to us in his Ranger and asked if we wanted to catch some striper and of course we said yes. He directed us to a narrow canyon where a school of striper were pushing bait up in the back. We started fishing and it didn’t take long to fill his livewells, then we started to fill the footwell of the boat and by the time we quit they were stacked to the bottom of the seats. He then called his wife and had her meet us at the ramp which had cleaning stations set up to not only clean but to grind and store carcasses that farmers could come load up for fertilizer. I don’t know how many fish we caught but it had to have been in the hundreds because he ended up with over 50 pounds of fillets that he was going to fill his freezer and take the rest to the Indian reservation. It was the worst case of ripped up fishing thumb and hand I have ever had. I flew home with my hand bandaged and it took 3 months to heal.

I went against my long standing rule of no snaps and paid the price. I was vertical jigging SteelShad blades in 30-40 feet of water and cycling through colors and sizes trying to find the bait de jouir for the day and since they come with snaps, I left one on and was just switching baits. It saved me time from re tying. I hooked into a 5lb largemouth and it came up on the opposite side of the boat and after 1 jump, broke free. I thought my line broke but when I reeled in, there was the twisted snap still tied to my line. Not just unhooked but bent wide open. It pains me to say this because I am sponsored by SteelShad but it is what it is. I’ll always be straight.

While I agree there are some that may take advantage of your hospitality, I’ll also suggest they may have no idea what you are going through. With that being said, I don’t have any “friends” that only ring me up when fishing season starts. Those of us who have boats and are open to taking others always have been properly respected and/or helped with costs. Anybody who doesn’t, won’t get any re-invites. If your friends aren’t close enough to share your difficult times with, I wouldn’t expect them to feel your pain. If they are and still stay distant, I’d wager they are not good friends.

All part of our summertime fun here in Virginia. I’ve written a few articles on this good fighting, good eating, invader. Now sold in stores as Channa to avoid the negative connotation of Snakehead.

3 years ago on St Clair after going there every year for 22 years, we finally hit the weather/spawn right and spent a week landing 125 fish each a day in the 3 to 5lb class of smallmouth. Literally fished until we could no longer reel. If I never hit that timing again, I’ll die a happy fisherman.

Well, I just found out they discontinued the California Roll completely and they eliminated the bubble gum, goby and perch colors from the DShad lineup. I’ll post a picture of my DShad box and you’ll see why. I’m sure there are other Senko colors discontinued but I use a pretty small number of colors. When GSM purchased Yamamoto, they did a SKU study and that, I’m sure was a guide to what was selling the best. While I may not agree with the decisions, I am also not privy to the management decisions and why they are made. Under the old management I could pick up the phone or send an email to any number of upper management. While I can still send it today, I don’t have the same relationship.

😂😂😂😆😆😄😄Didn’t fool me for a second. Although I have been surprised with the discontinuation of some colors and some baits altogether. Can you even imagine the market value Yamamoto would have had if they had re-patented the Senko design. 😱

There's just something special about watching a SpaceX Dragon rocket launch from the beach walkover. Awsome doesn't do it justice. No filter needed.

I was a guide. I’ve been hooked so many times I’m amazed water doesn’t leak out of me like a lawn sprinkler when I drink.

I had a trailer shop recommend a tire that they use on very high dollar horse trailers that are heavy weight weight and run a lot of miles. Power King Towmax. I have timed out on 2 sets without a failure and I pull a lot of miles.

Let me go look. I’ve got a lot of them so I haven’t ordered any for a while. Hmmmm……I’ve found some on eBay but not on Yamamoto’s home page. They have released so many new baits and discontinued some, I have a hard time keeping track. There’s a couple of my old favorites that have gotten the axe, either in color or completely. Looks like this is one. In a pinch I have used a Kut Tail with very good results.

Yes, it is the California roll. I use t when they want more action than the Pro Senko has. Which is the thinner pointy ended worm also in the picture. I also use a scope Shad and the Yamatanuki.

So many different techniques to dropshotting. I’ve been doing it for 30+ years and have caught 6lb smallmouth and 7lb largemouth on the same setup. Castaway 7ft medium action spinning rod 8lb straight mono #1 NOT 1.0 gamakatsu ewg hook QuickDrop 1/4oz dropshot weight Baits….so many different Yamamoto plastics work but #1 is the 3.75in Shad Shape Worm. Weight in pic with baits is my alternate weight, a bass pro cheap weight. And I only Texas rig the baits. No nose hooking for me.

It really does me good to see the positive reviews of the Senko. So many won’t throw it out of sheer oppositional defiance. It’s almost like they don’t want it to work. Is it magic, no….does it work all the time, no….but on sheer numbers, I can’t say any other brand has come close. I know that opens the door to all the responses like xyz brand is just as good, etc., and I say if that’s the bait you have confidence in, then by all means throw it. I also quantify my Senko seminars with the statement that as soon as you weight a Senko, you might as well use a knockoff. I also don’t wacky rig. I use Senkos in a number of weighted applications but it’s not because I think they work better, it’s because I am sponsored and Yamamoto is the only plastics that are in my boat. You might bring something different but you won’t see me throwing it. Most often my friends just happen to leave their plastics at home when they get in my boat. 🤔😆

I’m in no position to comment. Stay safe for all those still frozen.

Safety is a personal thing and I compare it to seatbelt laws and helmet laws. Some are mandated and some are optional.

Currently at my brother in law and sister in law’s beach house on Cresent beach. Glad you had a good time. I was tempted to bring my surf gear but ended up leaving it home.

We fish lake St Clair and wind is a way of life. Wind does a few things that are very beneficial. It bunches fish up, it fires them up to feed, it makes their locations more predictable. And finally as kind of an obscure benefit, as was the case Saturday, it encouraged us to fish areas we normally don’t go to. They were very productive.

A simple google search will give you this result. Are they approved….yes but they must be worn at all times and cannot be stored. Yes, inflatable PFDs, to be considered a USCG-approved life jacket, must be worn to meet carriage requirements and provide protection. They are not simply a device to be kept on board.

Thanks for the compliments on the boat. It’s a sad story I have tried to make better. I bought the boat in 2014 when I moved back home to Virginia from Florida. I took my old guide boat with me to Florida since I had a rental house on the St Johns with a dock and boat lift and ended up selling it there to a tournament buddy before I headed back home. It’s a 2005 Z21 powered by a 2005 Yamaha HPDI 2 stroke. Original to the boat. I have been meticulous about care but alas, the fact I have stored it outside is catching up to it. Even double covered, the black/gold color scheme generates a lot of heat in the summer sun. I put a portable fan under the cover in summer but after all these years, the clear coat has developed “stars” and cracks that are all cosmetic but drive me bonkers. I have been told it’s age related more than exposure and that other boats of that age that have been stored inside have also developed the same condition. Back to the sad story, when I got back from Florida, I thought I was going to hold off on boat shopping for a while. Not having a boat was driving me nutz. I went and looked at a few but they all didn’t pass inspection from my well versed boat expert friend. My tournament partner called me up and told me about a boat he saw on Craigslist. Normally, I would have dismissed any Craigslist boat but agreed to go look at it. Called the owner and arranged a time. He lived on a large property and the boat was sitting alongside a huge machine shed under a tattered and torn cover, full of leaves, sticks and mold. I just about walked away but my buddy stopped me and said we need to look at its “bones” not the cosmetics. We uncovered the boat and while the owner and I discussed price, my buddy was in the compartments and inspecting from stem to stern. After a short private pow-wow with my buddy we agreed on a fair offer price considering the condition. The owner flat out refused it and we left. About 3 weeks later, the boat popped up on Craigslist again with a lower price but still higher than my offer. I called the owner and said my offer still stood and after a little back and forth, we met in the middle. I told him my offer was contingent on a water test to make sure everything worked. We set up a date and met him at a launch on the Potomac river. He had put some fresh fuel in it and it fired off first crank after having sat for over 2 years. While we were out putting the boat through its paces I noticed the owner was very sad looking, almost to the point of tears. That’s when I got the rest of the story. The boat was originally a touring FLW pro’s that his brother bought in 2006. His brother retired and bought a place on the Potomac, and this was going to be his forever boat. He enjoyed the boat for a number of years but the summer 3 years earlier he decided to buy a kayak as well and on one of his outings, he turtled the yak, got wrapped up in vegitation and tragically drowned. He had 2 boats, the bass boat and a center console. His sister got the center console and his brother got the bass boat in his estate. His brother owned a huge landscaping business and was also a blue water guide in the outer banks, so the bassboat sat because he was sentimentally attached to it. We had a heart to heart talk and I promised to take care of it to the best of my ability. It ended up a labor of love getting it back into shape. The worst was the mold that I fought for years. The “Black Pearl” as my friends call her, has been all over the country and has served me well.

Also keep in mind that if you are in a powerboat, an inflatable does not satisfy USCG requirements. In addition to a throwable, you have to be carrying a standard vest. I’m sure Ajay can fill in the gaps. I gave up on the inflatables when I heard some accounts of being tossed and them not inflating.

Went out yesterday even though the forecast called for 20mph gusts out of the north. Water temps were 55-60. Fish have been on the beds somewhat. Good chance for me to give the new Ghost trolling motor a good field test. And to run my boat for the first time this year. Fueled up with non ethanol on my way to the lake and actually misjudged how much was already in my port tank (26 gal capacity) and belched some very expensive fuel on the concrete. Always a puzzle to figure out on this lake, shallow, deep, blades, Ned’s, etc. Normally this time of year we would be vertical jigging blades in 30+ft of water. At the current temps, the fish were scattered and setting up to spawn. We caught males up shallow and females a little deeper. Best baits were Ned’s with a 4 inch Senko, 3.5 Shad Shape Worm and a 3in Scope Shad. The Ghost performed well and was invaluable when we needed to hold in place for a net fish and to keep constant on facing into the wind. We found them in pockets as well, they seemed to be bunched up in the pockets when there was deeper water nearby. Easy 60 fish day. I’m now off to Florida for some beach time. No fishing though.

Sometimes you just never know what will fail and how it will affect your performance. I have the same motor except a 250 and while doing regular maintenance found a white plastic piece in the bottom of my cowl. Come to find out it was the clip that holds a bar from the throttle to tell the oil injection system how much oil to send to the cylinders. The bar was hanging loose. Luckily when that happened, it is designed to fail in the full oil position. Otherwise, I would have oil starved my 2 stroke and most likely locked it up.

@Goldstar225, I think I’d be picking another lake for the family trip.

Lake Anna Hotside yesterday morning.